The Bcr-Abl oncoprotein plays a major role in the development and progression of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Several studies have suggested that the expression levels of Bcr-Abl are elevated at disease progression to blast crisis and that this plays a significant role in the achievement of drug ...

The productivity of NS/0 myeloma batch cultures is often compromised by the premature induction of apoptosis, now established to be the predominant method of cell death during culture decline. Caspase proteases have recently been shown to play a major role in the transmission of signals for apoptoti...

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a disease of the hematopoietic system, characterized by the presence of the Bcr-Abl oncoprotein. The main characteristics of this disease include adhesion independence, growth factor independence, and resistance to apoptosis. Loss or mutation of the tumor suppressor...

Two flow cytometric apoptosis assays, the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) assay and in situ nick translation (ISNT) assay, were assessed for their ability to quantitate drug-induced apoptosis in CLL lymphocytes. In contrast to HL60 cells, biotinylated dUTP could not be effectively incorp...

Johne's disease or paratuberculosis in cattle is caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). Although the stages of infection have been well described, very few virulence factors of MAP have been studied in detail. We aimed to study the localization and immunogenicity of member...

Osteopontin has been identified as a marker of metastasis formation and its increased expression has been correlated with the malignancy of cancer. In this study we provide evidence that increased expression of osteopontin may also be associated with progression of Bcr-Abl-expressing leukaemia cells...

Programmed cell death and apoptosis have now been recognised as biological phenomena which are of fundamental importance to the integrity of organisms. What may have evolved as an altruistic defence against pathogen invasion in simple organisms is now a major regulatory mechanism in the development ...

A characteristic feature of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is the inevitable advancement from a treatable chronic phase to a fatal, drug-resistant stage referred to as blast crisis. The molecular mechanisms responsible for this disease transition remain unknown. As increased expression of Bcr-Abl h...

OBJECTIVE: Voluntary HIV testing and counseling (VTC) has been shown to reduce the incidence of HIV in cohabiting couples who now represent the majority of new infections in many African cities. Community and client perceptions of a 1-day voluntary testing and counseling program in Lusaka, Zambia, w...

The treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is often complicated by resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. Many of the most effective drugs used to treat haematological malignancies target the nuclear enzyme topoisomerase II. Resistance to these drugs in vitro has been associated with quantitative...

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is a progressive disease, commonly treated in its early stage with alkylating agents. A multi-agent regimen which includes anthracyclines is used to treat advanced disease. Despite chemotherapy, the disease remains incurable. There is now considerable evidence to ...

Chronic myeloid leukaemia invariably progresses from a drug-sensitive to a drug-resistant, aggressive acute leukaemia. The mechanisms responsible for this are unknown, although loss of p53 has been reported in approximately 25% of cases. Elevated expression of Bcr-Abl is also associated with disease...

Drug resistance remains a serious limiting factor in the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) either at initial presentation or following primary or subsequent relapses. Using specific kinase inhibitors, this study has investigated the contribution of the Ras/PI3-kinase regulated survival path...

We have previously shown that the androgen-independent prostate cancer cells DU145, despite expressing Fas and FasL, were resistant to anti-Fas-induced apoptosis, and that this resistance could be overcome by pretreating the cells with sublethal doses of camptothecin. Here, we provide evidence that ...

Bcr-Abl is a constitutively active tyrosine kinase involved in the development and progression of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). It has been demonstrated that Bcr-Abl-positive cells can be uniquely resistant to apoptosis induced by different types of stimuli, but the mechanism by which this is ach...

Apoptosis is an internally directed, physiological method of cell destruction. Cellular components are dismantled within the confines of an intact cell membrane, and rapid ingestion by phagocytic cells prevents local inflammation. A variety of genes have now been identified as positive or negative r...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a 3M Petrifilm-based on-farm culture system for the detection of intramammary infection (IMI) in low somatic cell count (SCC) cows (<200,000 cells/mL) at drying off. The main objectives were to determine the test characteristics and the predictive values of ...

During a 10-month period in 1999, 994 serum and tissue samples were collected from dairy cows at slaughter in eastern Canada. The sources of these cattle were from all four Atlantic Canadian provinces along with some cows from the state of Maine. The sera were used to assess the agreement of three c...

Recent international developments in the area of infectious disease control and nontariff trade barriers, along with possible zoonotic concerns, have provoked a revival of interest in Johne's disease in Canada and elsewhere. The bacterium causing Johne's disease, Mycobacterium avium subspecies parat...

Part I of this 2-part review examined the clinical stages, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and epidemiology of Johne's disease, providing information relevant to Canada, where available. In Part II, a critical review of the economic impacts of the disease, risk factors, and important control measures ar...